"Kristen McClarty�s work tells a story of a person in a space, surrounded by built up memory of self and others.

Her recent woodblocks draw on the idea that lived experience lingers in a place, recorded on rocks, droplets of water and suspended particles in air and liquid. A residual energy, reluctant to leave, pooling in the space or mounting up as a palimpsest on the very structure of the environment.

McClarty documents a lingering trace of self as she passes through tannin rich waters. A recording of existence and presence on the water molecules, floating botanical particles and the surface of the rock or branch that she brushes past. As her body drops beneath the surface, suspended fragments of the surroundings hide her very existence.

And then, an ancient coastal lichen-covered rock, plucked from its salty, wind-swept environment, floats in a grainy space. An over-sized Suiseki, reminiscent of a dromedary camel, settled forever to hold space and absorb the residual energy and experience of what happens in its presence.

McClarty has exhibited in the UK, as well as widely in South Africa and her work is held in private and public collections in South Africa and worldwide."